I watched the blob standing against the wall near the door. Calvin had called Neil like some chivalrous knight and told me he was on his way. The doctor had hardly left the room before Neil burst in, breathless and anxious.
I thought his reaction should have been comforting—to see him upset over me—but instead it agitated me. Calvin had been upset, but he’d kept his calm the whole way through.
“Sebby?”
I let it go. “Hi.”
Neil ignored Calvin as he stepped by him and dropped his coat on the chair Calvin had been sitting in before. He walked over to my side. “Jesus, they told me you have a concussion.”
“Pretty hard head, though. I’m okay.”
“Don’t make jokes.”
“I’m—” I took a deep breath. I was suddenly very tired. Did Neil always make me feel like this? “I’d like to sleep,” I said while closing my eyes.
LINGERING LIGHTwas coming in through the closed blinds when I woke up. I rubbed my eyes and yawned.
“How’re you feeling?”
I glanced to my right. Neil had taken over the chair. I looked around. “Where’s Dad and Calvin?”
“Calvin?”
I looked back at Neil. “What?”
“You called him and not me.”
“I’d been hit over the head. I’m lucky I managed to call anyone, Neil. I probably just hit something at random.” I didn’t like that I couldn’t see him. Without glasses, I couldn’t even make out body posture well and needed to rely on his tone to understand his emotions.
Neil sighed heavily. “The weather is bad. I had a patrolman drive your dad home.”
“Oh… thanks.”
“Sure.”
I pointed at the window. “What time is it?”
“Nearly four.”
“What? I’ve been sleeping all day?”
Neil nodded, I think. “The nurses woke you up a few times, but you were a little loopy.”
“I feel strange.”
“That’d be the concussion.”
Neil helped me with the bed remote once I started to complain of lying still too long. He got the bed into more of a sitting position for me before taking the chair once again. “How have you been? Besides this.”
“I’ve been fine.”
“Have you?”
I turned back to Neil. “Where have you been staying?”
“A hotel,” he answered.
I looked down at my hands, rubbing them together absently. We were both tiptoeing around each other. Both wondering the same thing. Where did we stand as a couple? I thought of Calvin. Should I just tell Neil then and there and—
